welding help!

[sparko]

I just found bags of rust on what was meant to be my engine swap only project! It looks like i need to teach myself how to weld! my girlfriends dad is a welder so can get tips from him but what i need to know is.... whats the best welder to buy on a budget?

Being that welding wasnt even in my budget it needs to be cheap as possible. i have no problem trawling ebay and awaiting a bargin but i need to know what would be best as a beginner welder to do body work. also the smaller the better as i live in a flat and don't have a garage so will have to carry it up and down stairs!!

problem areas......












Cheers!

[mattc]

Best thing sparky is to cut back the bad sections to good and the make the hole easier to weld.

Carboard template to the size of the hole then use that to make yourself a nice bit of metal to weld in.

You might want to take that drivers side outrigger off to check behind it as well, drill out all the spot welds

[Fungus]

As far as welders go, a mig that's about 150amp or over will do fine.

Definately get one that uses gas, argon gas is a bit more expensive but seems to be better than Co2

[stueyt]

Oct 16, 2010 16:46:26 GMT Fungus said:

As far as welders go, a mig that's about 150amp or over will do fine.

Definately get one that uses gas, argon gas is a bit more expensive but seems to be better than Co2

Hi Hondaman,

I have to disagree with you there, if it is only for bodywork a 100amp, or 105amp welder will be more than enough. I use a Cosmo (read sip) 150 amp and it struggles to drop low enough for bodywork, it is possible but it's very stop/start welding, if you use a smaller amp welder you can lay down continuous welds which are stronger, aslong as you get the penetration that is required, but on bodyworrk that really isn't a problem, blowing holes will be the biggest problem. IMHO

Not a dig just an observation and got the T-shirt's in the wardrobe. To answer the original question a gas/gasless clarke 105amp will be more than man enough for the job needed.

Cheers,

Stu.

[popuptoaster]

where are you in Essex?

[speedy88]

I use a Clarke 90 pro. It's just a hobby welder, cost me £100 and gives pretty good results for that. Just make sure that you test it before you hand over the money, the drive wheels can wear down inside.

[sparko]

cheers homies, I'm in colchester bud.

hmm interesting so around 100 - 150 amp should do the job, cheers guys il start looking about.

and yes il have to cut the outriggers off as most of the rot is hidden behind there

[optima21]

Ive been using a clarke pro 90 mig welder for over 10 years now with a CO2 cy.linder from a pub. so far its been able to handle anything I've asked it to (including 1/4" plate with suitable preparation), and can easily seam weld metal down to 0.8mm thich). Also the lower maximum current means you can use it on a 13 Amp extension without it tripping fuses etc

www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/pro-90-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders

you can get spare drive rollers from Clarke directly but the postage makes them expensive

[nomad]

MIG needed, arc won't work on thin panels
120 amp will be plenty unless you are planning to "buy big" for any heavy welding in the future
Budget £200-£300 if buying new, maybe £50-£100 for used (but check it works before paying for it ) + price of a service kit (liner etc)

Oct 16, 2010 17:03:23 GMT speedy88 said:

I use a Clarke 90 pro. It's just a hobby welder, cost me £100 and gives pretty good results for that. Just make sure that you test it before you hand over the money, the drive wheels can wear down inside.

Nice kit, I use the same ;D

All the info you need at : www.mig-welding.co.uk/
Register to see the forums, "which welder to buy" / "newbies" / "how-to vids" etc
check the "for sale" section or post a wanted ad...
Lots of good info, very friendly site ;D

suggestions - look at machine mart, their Clarke range is one of the better budget DIY options.
See suppliers on site above for good prices and freebies

my kit - Clarke pro-90. pub c02 bottle, new regulator. auto-darken helmet.
;D for : cheap gas (no more expensive "disposable" bottles),
can weld very thin (but not often needed for V thin stuff)
against : not happy welding thicker joints - car chassis is about max.
large & heavy to move around.
standard regulator is pants

top tips -
look through the tutorials
find someone who can show you how to setup and get started
anyone local you can borrow gear from? any local car clubs you can join to use their gear??

GO FOR IT ;D
I started fairly recently and couldn't do without a welder now

[sparko]

awsome cheers chappies

[fad]

I use a Clarke 151TE and so far have not found anything it's not been able to do, probably overkill for doing bodywork though, I use mine for welding stuff 2mm and thicker usually.

[popuptoaster]

Ahh sorry, bit further than i want to let my MIG go on loan really.

[sparko]

no bother chap,

whats the deal with gasless ones? wibblepoo?

[mk1astramad]

sparky, mines the 130 turbo, and is spot on for carbody work.

[dannyallen]

Hi Sparko

I'm over in braintree and weld rusty vw's up every day, I use a clarke 110 mig, and use argosheild light.

Personally, I wouldnt bother with a gasless welder or Co2.

If you can find it in your budget rent a short bottle from BOC it will be better in the long run than using the small white bottles

hope this helps

dannny

[spunkymonkey]

Oct 16, 2010 18:15:31 GMT sparko said:

whats the deal with gasless ones? wibblepoo?

If you learn on "proper" mig then you'll hate them. On the other hand, if (like me) you learnt on stick then they do the job fine.

They're not as neat as a good gas mig (although if you want really neat and don't mind the cost then go oxy!) and the wire is more expensive but:

If you haven't already learnt a "gas" technique then they're quick and easy enough to pick up.

The extra cost of wire will be more than offset by the cost of gas if you're not using it much - 3 mini-reels off EBay for about 18 quid has kept me going with 2 Dafs and a Triumph for the past 5 MOTs.

They are much nicer than gas mig if you're using them outside with any sort of wind around, unless you want to spend as long setting up wind screens as you do welding!

At the end of the day, if you can weld you can weld to "MOT standard"* with just about anything - even a couple of leads, some stick electrodes and a car battery or two.



* as in continuous, strong enough, but not necessarily pretty

[joe90]

I have a clarke 100e that iv'e had for about 17 years and i have welded everything from minis to transits and i handles it well, use a co2 pub bottle, only thing with co2 is it makes the weld hotter than argon and creates more spatter.

Bryan

[sparko]

so with the gasless ones is it literally as easy as point and shoot?

i don't mind buying a nice gas welder at a later date but at the moment all i have is a parking space to work in and a cupboard for a shed in a flat so not much room for storage!

[spunkymonkey]

All mig are basically point & shoot. The problems people find with gasless are that it tends to be hotter (so more risk of burning through), it's harder to watch the weld pool because you get smoke around the arc from the flux (practice helps), the weld it leaves isn't as neat and even (although it grinds up perfectly well) and it deposits a thin layer of slag on top of the weld (which comes off easily with a wire brush). Oh, and the wire costs more.

The extra heat really isn't a big problem if you pay attention to what you're doing and you're not already used to mig:

It's a good idea to run tacks of about 3/4 inch rather than trying for a continuous seam to keep the heat down. Do one, then another on the opposite side of the patch, then one in between the two, and so on until they join up (that's pretty good practice anyway to help avoid distortion). Before you start doing the ones that will actually meet existing welds, wire-brush the ones you've already done to get rid of the slag layer.

As a general rule do NOT run a gassless weld "pushing" the arc - with gas you normally weld with the tip pof the torch pointing slightly in the direction you're welding so that you blow the shield gas ahead of yourself. With gassless, reverse that and "drag" the dip so it's pointing back at the weld you've already made like you would with a stick welder. The extra metal there helps to carry heat away and prevent burn through.

Oh, and don't try nice, inset butt joints at least to start with. For stuff like your inner wings plates will be fine if you make sure you're back to sound metal and do them neatly. The extra layer of metal helps a lot in dealing with the extra heat.

You can't see the weld pool but you can tell what the arc's like by sound and you should be able to see well enough to follow the joint.

A good gasless weld isn't as neat as a good mig weld but there are alot of not-so-good mig welds out there that look fine in areas like underbonnet. If it's more visible than that then the appearance of the weld itself shouldn't really matter because you'd be grinding it flush afterwards anyway

Once you're finished give it a good wire-rushing to remove the slag layer (thin black coating that forms). Takes all of an extra minute or two, that you'll probably save by not having to carry a gas bottle back into the flat

I guess what I'm saying is that, despite almost everything out there on the Net, gassless mig is ok for basic MOT type welding (which seems to be what you need right now) and can/i] be used (with lots of practice) for fancier stuff, although gas is better for that.

Maybe look at a gas / gassless one so you have the best of both - gassless for now to get the thing on the road and you can always switch to gas as and when it suits you? In terms of price there's not a huge difference between a starter gas mig and an equivalent dual purpose and it's always handy to have gassless available for those days when you need to get an MOT patch on outside and it's blowing a gale

[steveo3002]

ive got the clarke 90 mig...very happy with it for car bodywork

watch if buying a high powered one that it goes low enough for body panels as they don't all go that low

budget for a auto darkening helmet , that will double the quality of any newbie work and make life so much easier